The Literature of EcstasyBy: Albert Mordell (1885-)

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Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been
left as in the original except in the Index where the spelling has been
changed to match the spelling in the body of the text. A complete list
of corrections follows the text. Other notes also follow the text.

Words in italics in the original are surrounded by underscores .
Ellipses match the original. A row of asterisks represents a thought
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THE LITERATURE
OF ECSTASY

BY

ALBERT MORDELL
Author of:
The Erotic Motive in Literature
Dante and Other Waning Classics
The Shifting of Literary Values

BONI AND LIVERIGHT
Publishers New York

THE LITERATURE OF ECSTASY

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY
BONI & LIVERIGHT, INC.

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

PAGE
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 9

CHAPTER II. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
ECSTASY 18

CHAPTER III. ECSTASY, NOT RHYTHM,
ESSENTIAL TO POETRY 42

CHAPTER IV. PROSE THE NATURAL
LANGUAGE OF THE LITERATURE OF
ECSTASY 77

CHAPTER V. PROSE PRECEDES VERSE
HISTORICALLY 96

CHAPTER VI. BLANK VERSE AND FREE
VERSE AS FORMS OF PROSE 111

CHAPTER VII. MORAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL
IDEAS AS POETRY WHEN WRITTEN WITH
ECSTASY 123

CHAPTER VIII. POETRY RISES ABOVE
ART FOR ART'S SAKE AND INTUITION 138

CHAPTER IX. HIGH FORM OF POETRY
ECSTATIC PRESENTATION OF ADVANCED
SOCIAL IDEALS 152

CHAPTER X. LITERATURE OF ECSTASY
EMANATES FROM THE UNCONSCIOUS 179

CHAPTER XI. LOVE ECSTASY IN ARABIAN
POETRY 203

CHAPTER XII. CONCLUSION 226

THE LITERATURE OF ECSTASY

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

From time immemorial it has been assumed that poetry is something which
is caviare to the general public. A "poem" even to day is supposed to be
a literary composition that is in artificial language arranged in a
metrical pattern, often conveying a trite idea or enshrining an
ineffective image. Thousands of volumes and essays have been written on
poetry, and instead of fathoming a true conception of its nature, they
have dealt with the trappings and garments which clothe it; these indeed
have often been confused with poetry itself. As a result, there has
grown around the pathway leading to poetry an endless maze of shrubbery.
The reader who has no knowledge of rules and laws relating to verse, who
is ignorant of technical requirements and established uses, labors under
the delusion that he does not like poetry. Though he reads many works in
prose that stir a deep emotional appeal within him, he does not regard
himself as one of those lovers who haunt the foot of Parnassus Hill.

I wish in this volume to present a conception of poetry freed from
academic and conventional standards. I wish to restore to the term
poetry its primary and fundamental significance as a verbal composition
in which the predominating feature is ecstasy. Poetry is an emotional
atmosphere that pervades all literature in its finest parts; it
characterizes any purely personal expression of the creative
imagination. As the reader perceives, my definition of poetry includes
prose literature in which ecstasy is present. I do not think of poetry
as a branch of literature couched in a metrical form, following regular
rules of rhythm, diction, figures of speech or rhyme. My conception of
poetry then, is not that of a department of literature which is opposed
to prose, but of an emotional spirit hovering over any kind of writing,
whether in verse or prose, which conveys ecstasy.

I shall try to show especially that the prose literature of ecstasy
fulfils all the intrinsic conditions which have been associated with
poetry... Continue reading book >>